A soccer game may not necessarily lead to peace in the Middle East, but\u2026you have to start somewhere, so why not with soccer? \u00a0National Geographic Emerging Explorer Aziz Abu Sarah is a cultural educator and a specialist in\u00a0conflict resolution. His core aim is to create opportunities for dialogue among people that are on opposing sides of a\u00a0conflict. The hope is that if each side sees the other as human beings, they are less likely to support one another\u2019s destruction. Could a soccer game among mixed teams of Israeli and Palestinian boys help? For more information about Aziz and his work please go to\u00a0www.nationalgeographic.com/conflictzone.

Daud, Palestinian Farmer:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On my own land, I'm not allowed to have running water. I'm not allowed to have electricity.

THESE PERSONAL NARRATIVES ARE AT THE HEART OF THIS CONFLICT.

Daniel, Israeli Rabbi:\u00a0 I moved here when I was 15, to Jerusalem. In the first couple of months of moving here, there were three people stabbed in my neighborhood, and several cars burnt outside of my house.\u00a0\u00a0 I went into terrible shock. Every time as a kid, as a 15 year old, I would go to school, I would constantly look behind me because I was convinced I was going to be stabbed, I was going to be killed.

Udi, Israeli Student:\u00a0\u00a0 In a way we've gotten used to living in a country that's not safe. So there's a certain stress level that we accept. There's a certain danger level that we accept as our daily lives that we shouldn't.

Daniel, Israeli Rabbi:

I had a terrible nightmare as a kid that everyone was just going to come and torch our house. That sense of fear of being destroyed and annihilated is with everybody all the time.

Daud, Palestinian Farmer:

You cannot plan for the next day. The moment you wake up in the morning and you want to make a cup of tea, there is no water. Then, you want to bring your children to school, just as a normal family anywhere in the world, and you face a roadblock, or if not a roadblock, you face a checkpoint. You face this reality on the ground day by day, so you feel them that they are not living their childhood, as children.

Hussam, Gaza Doctor:\u00a0 The Israelis attack Gaza from the sky by F16. Any building can be destroyed any car can be bombed at any time.\u00a0 My children were asking, \"What is happening here?\" I couldn't answer that question. I don't know what to say.\u00a0 It was a problem for me to go to my work, to go to the hospital because every time they say, \"Please Dad.\u00a0 Don't go to the work.\u00a0 We are afraid,\" they were afraid about me to be injured.

Daniel, Israeli Rabbi: It makes me terrified to think that, my children are gonna have to serve in the army, and are going to have to go through the same kind of experiences, and that we're just not going to grow, and change this situation for the better.

Daud, Palestinian Farmer:\u00a0 You know every human being on this earth dreams of being independent - to live in dignity, and in freedom, with all neighbors. So I don't want my children to grow up the way I grew up.

Mazin, Palestinian Activist:\u00a0 For sure there is the end of the story. The end of the story is said, the two nations, the Palestinian and the Israeli should have the agreement, should find the solution for this conflict.

Udi, Israeli Student:

I think at the end of the day, we're all people, and we only want to live in peace, and we want to feel safe in our homes and safe in our streets. Somewhere inside there's the hope that we can live side by side.

Daud, Palestinian Farmer:\u00a0 We don't know each other as human beings, we know each other as enemies, you know. We cannot overcome hate with hate. We cannot overcome evil with evil.

Aziz Abu Sarah:\u00a0 I grew up protesting in these roads. My brother was arrested and he was taken to Israeli jail. I was ten years old when he died. My experience here showed me, that you can't watch a conflict and do nothing about it. You must act to make a difference.

THESE PEOPLE ARE SO DIVIDED. \u00a0I TRIED TO CREATE WAYS FOR THEM TO FIND COMMON GROUND.

CHILDREN ON THE OPPOSITE SIDES OF THIS CONFLICT RARELY MEET.

I'VE ORGANIZED A SOCCER GAME TO BRING THEM TOGETHER ON THE SAME FIELD.

EACH TEAM HAS BOTH ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS.

THIS SOCCER GAME MIGHT NOT CHANGE THE WORLD. THEY ACTUALLY MIGHT NOT EVEN LEAVE IT BEING FRIENDS.

HOWEVER THEY WILL LEARN THAT THOSE ON THE OTHER SIDE ARE ALSO HUMAN BEINGS JUST LIKE THEM.

I DON'T WANT THEM TO GROW UP JUST THINKING OF THEMSELVES AND THE OTHER AS ENEMIES.

BUT RATHER SEEING THE POSSIBILITY, THE POTENTIAL, OF WHAT CAN BE CREATED HERE.